America’s retail landscape is evolving. Once the giants of our suburbs, department stores, malls, and big-box retailers are slowly becoming relics of the past. In their place, service industries are stepping up to reshape these spaces. One building that perfectly captures the shift stands at 1501 East McGalliard Road in Muncie. Over the past fifty years, it’s been a fascinating example of transformation in action.
Muncie’s commercial center spread beyond downtown during the 1950s and 60s. In particular, its northeast side grew with the development of the Muncie bypass and the Muncie Mall, which debuted in 1970. A year later, Mason’s Department Store opened just across McGalliard Road. As the M.H. Fishman Company’s first Indiana entry, the sprawling 75,000-square-foot mercantile offered an impressive 128 departments.
Mason’s featured everything from men’s and women’s fashions to kids’ clothing, hardware, auto supplies, appliances, radios, televisions, toys, and sporting goods1. Wide aisles and neatly arranged fixtures made shopping convenient, while a massive parking lot with space for 1,000 cars2 ensured plenty of room for eager customers.
A pair of skydivers, Muncie Mayor Paul Cooley, and Mason’s president Morton L. Polk attended the department store’s opening ceremonies. A thousand 45-rpm records were given away that day too, along with lollipops, balloons, pens, and yardsticks! The door prizes were impressive, but they paled in comparison to Mason’s planned giveaways, which included a $500 raffle, an Electrophonic Home Entertainment Center, a GAF movie outfit, and a three-speed Iverson bicycle3.
As one of the few seventies department stores still under the control of its founding family, Mason’s pulled out all of the stops for its Muncie debut. Unfortunately, the ceremony wasn’t to last. Just four years after Mason’s opened, officials with M.L. Fischman shut it down. The company decided that the Muncie area couldn’t support such a large department store, but locals in charge speculated that the weak economy had more to do with its closure4. Mason’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early in 1975, and close-out sales began at its Muncie outpost that January5.
By September, the parking lot of the vacant Mason’s store was being used for Go-Kart races6. Fortunately, the property wasn’t abandoned for long: in 1976, S.S. Kresge announced plans to open its second Muncie K-mart in the building7. After a slate of renovations, the new store opened on March 31 of the following year8. The building received an 11,000-square-foot expansion that brought a new lifestyle center, pharmacy, and Kitchen Korner in 1990. Those improvements came in light of rumors that the Muncie Mall would soon expand and that a new Wal-Mart was set to open on the north side of town9.
Both projects eventually happened, but thousands continued to shop at Muncie’s north K-mart over the next twenty-four years. I did too, on occasion! I’ll never forget one memorable Black Friday when I stocked up on Bandai Godzilla action figures and happily avoided the chaos of Best Buy, Walmart, and Meijer. Unfortunately, K-mart closed in 2014 after its parent, Sears Holdings, lost $975 million in the first half of the year10. Liquidation sales began on September 28th.
Along with the closure of a Marsh Supermarket, the absence of K-mart turned areas east of the Muncie Mall like the Morningside neighborhood into food deserts. Officials expressed hope that a company would step up and fill the vacant space, but its location in the middle of a FEMA flood zone hampered redevelopment11. Several organizations proposed splitting the sprawling building into multiple retailers, but nothing happened. The property languished.
The old Mason’s/K-mart building was finally repurposed in 2017, when it was purchased for $1.1 million and became “U-Haul Moving and Storage of Morningside.” By August, the store had been remodeled to feature a temporary showroom with trailer sharing, towing equipment, and moving supplies. Plans included 40,000-square-feet of self storage units, outdoor storage, propane, and professional trailer hitch installation12. Now, more than seven years later, it remains home to U-Haul.
I’ll admit that U-Haul was not on my bingo card when K-mart closed. Still, buildings its size seem tough to repurpose in traditional ways since they’re too large for convenience stores yet smaller than today’s sprawling Black Friday destinations. I’m glad that its open layout, high ceiling, and prime location made Muncie’s old K-mart surprisingly adaptable! It’s easy to feel nostalgic for the Masons and K-marts the our sprawling spaces once held, but their second lives showcase creativity and practicality. As consumer habits keep shifting, I’m sure we’ll see more stores like Muncie’s old 1501 E. McGalliard property be transformed in ways their original builders never dreamed of.
Sources Cited
1 New Mason Store To Open Nov. 14 (1971, November 4). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 35.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 New Store to Open Sunday (1971, November 13). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 9.
4 Smith, M. (1975, February 13). Store’s Decision to Close Puts Women Into Shaky Job Market. The Muncie Star. p. 32.
5 Filed Chapter 11 in 1975. Muncie store only Indiana store. Close-out sale began January 22, 1975 (mason’s, 1975).
6 Go-Kart Races Set for Sunday. The Muncie Star. p. 21.
7 Another K-Mart Due on McGalliard (1976, October 27). The Muncie star.r p. 1.
8 New K mart store opens (1977, March 31). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 3.
9 Francisco, B. (1990, March 2). K-Mart Plans ‘Grand Reopening’ The Muncie Star. p. 19.
10 Roysdon, K. (2014, September 28). Kmart, Target, and Dick’s. The Muncie Star Press. p. B1.
11 Shuey, M. (2016, March 27). Former Kmart has potential, but flood zone issues remain. The Muncie Star Press. p. B1.
12 Roysdon, K. (2017, August 10). U-Haul confirms use of former Kmart. The Muncie Star Press. p. A2.
I am trying to remember that store. I was used to shopping at K-mart in the late 70s, so I’m sure I went there a time or two. It was strange to watch how quickly and how thoroughly Wal Mart displaced K-Mart in the late 80s.
It is too cold out to remember anything.
By the time I rolled around, Kmart was a nonstarter. We went there occasionally, but it was always a step or two below its competitors.
Strangely, or maybe not so strange. Here in Springfield, IL, one of our Kmart stores was taken over by Uhaul for a storage facility.
Looking at the building in your photo, I for a second thought it actually was our Springfield facility. They look strikingly alike.
I’ve seen several local Kmarts around the Indianapolis area repurposed into Uhaul facilities. I wonder if they got a bulk deal!